lunchtime memories...

And just like that, she is our big Kindergartner.

Tucked away in her backpack were these petite lunches.

Made with love and craftiness for sure.

After seeing these on Wendy's blog about a year ago, I was hooked.
What a cute, not to mention memorable way to eat lunch.
And honestly it's not anymore work than a normal lunch packing which is fantastic.
Bento happy I am.
Despite my best efforts though, Olivia would much rather buy from the cafeteria.
Go figure.

Cheers to back to school time!

Papa O...

...or as I love to call him, my Dad.

The man that I get all my craftiness from for sure.

It was nothing he ever pushed on me, it was always something I just saw him doing.

My first memories of him making things, were his stained glass workings.

Amazed by the array of colors, I always wanted to be out in the garage when he was creating things.

After slicing my thumb on a piece of glass, I lost interest and went back to my Barbie's.

And then there were lots of memories of him making gold and silver pieces.

I loved playing around with the ring sizer the most.

As I got older, he filled me in on birthstones and gems in general.

At that point the teenage years had set in and boys reigned higher on the priority list.

But now that I am older, I am picking his brain for all the little details.

Watching closely as he works.

Turning to him for helpful hints and even using some of his old tools.
Here he had just finished an itty bitty ring for Olivia.

The picture brings tears to my eyes, because it is full circle.

What he does for her, he used to do for me.

And what I spend my time making, she sees.

She will remember.

This all makes me very happy.

I love you Dad.

summer...please stay and make yourself at home.

Tell me it's not time to for Olivia to start Kindergarten yet.

and it's time for the air to start getting crisp.

I throughly love your sunshine beating down on us and endless hours spent on the beach.

Finding any reason to enjoy frozen yogurt.

And letting the day take us where ever it may.

Summer, please keep us company a bit longer.

xo

The Ramirez family

krafting and such.

There is something so special about making custom orders.

My sister in law and family were just visiting for a week.

In between beachtime and Rockband, I made these little ones for her.

I had such fun sitting on the living room floor tossing around ideas with her.

She is taking these back to Dallas with her to be dangled upon her friends.

Enjoy girls. And the adventure in the studio continues.

Seriously, this room is so tiny, it's hard to get a good picture.

Hopefully you get the just.

After hours of wrestling this kraft paper, I finally covered all the walls.

As I was wrestling, all I could think was why in the world people used to wallpaper EVERYTHING?!?

All that goop and mess...eeks.

In an attempt to leave no damage to the existing (nasty) wallpaper, I first went the double sided sticky tape route.

After completing about half the room, the walls started coming down around me...literally.

You can imagine how pissed I was.

Then out came the staple gun in full force. It worked like the champ it is.

Then to finish it off a little I used a huge roll of vintage grey, velvet ribbon as a border.
Wah la....much better I think.
Now to bring in the goods and make this room functional.